Stranger in a Strange Land
by Vengeful Vixen
Summary: (Set just after the Dark Tournament) A hybrid demon finds herself running for her life and escaping to the Human World. Once there, she finds herself at the mercy of Spirit World for crossing the border illegally. Now she must rely on the aid of the demons from Team Urameshi, Kurama and Hiei, in order to survive in a world where demons are seen as unwanted guests.
1. Chapter 1

(A/N) This is my first story so I hope you will bare with me as I try to figure out how I want this to go. This first chapter has actually been sitting on my computer for the better part of two years now. Hope you enjoy the story folks.

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The she-demon ran through the forest of Demon World, fear of being caught once more and the pain of her wounds adding to her need to outrun her adversary. Her once glossy, blue striped, white fur was now dull and stained red in places; cuts and bare patches covering every inch of her lean body. Violet slit-pupil eyes that once shone brightly with mischief and courage were now empty of any emotion, except one. FEAR. Absolute fear.

Several hours since the start of her flight for freedom, she was now desperate to escape. Where could she go? Who would offer her safety in a world plagued by lies and deceit? Surely her tormentors would have already spread word of her escape to any village or town that would listen to them. Her name wasn't as well known as that of the legendary fox bandit Yoko, but even so, she had carved out a place for herself in the Demon World by offering to procure any poison the client could want. Be it a drug to make your enemy forget his hatred of you and become your most loyal ally, or perhaps one to simply make them kill their entire household and themselves after a certain amount of time had passed.

Yes, she worked with poisons of all kinds and sold them for a measly profit to anyone who cared to pay her fee. It was for that very reason that she had been abducted from near her home and tortured endlessly for an antidote to her deadly concoctions. How could her captors be so certain that her elixirs even had an antidote? It was obvious (to some) that a master of poisons would never sell their potions to a stranger without ensuring they had a way to reverse its effects should it then be used on them. What her captors had failed to realize during their 'interrogation' was that she had no need of an antidote. It was this failure that allowed her to escape their hideout.

She could still feel the effects of the poisons running through her veins from the various cuts inflicted on her earlier, but she didn't care at the moment. It gave her the ability to slip through the barrier between the Demon and Human worlds. At last she was free of pursuit, but at what cost? She knew nothing of the Human World or the beings who lived in it.

A brief shake of her head and the she-demon brought herself from her depressing doubts and fears. For now, she must find a safe place to hide and recover her strength. She searched the nearby area and found that she was close to a dense patch of trees that bordered an open area with metal contraptions scattered around. What she had not expected was for tiny creatures to be running and climbing on said objects and squawling at each other.

The she-demon was gripped by curiosity at the sight of the small creatures playing so freely. Did they not fear being attacked in such an open place? Several quick glances alerted her to the presence of several larger creatures that watched over the group from nearby; no doubt guarding the small ones from creatures like herself that might wish them harm.

After watching the tiny creatures for some time, a few of them happened to wander across where she lay hidden in some bushes. She eyed them warily, wondering if she should snack on the tiny mouthfuls or simply ignore them. That choice, however, was quickly taken from her. Without warning, the three 'cubs', as she found herself calling them, pounced on her and began pulling what little fur she had left.

With an angry growl that was half roar, she leapt to her feet and scattered the cubs on the ground. She should have known that startling them would lead to that loud squalling she despised, and sure enough, two of the shaken cubs screeched loudly while the third simply stared at her. Alerted to the discomfort of their charges, two of the larger creatures sprinted over to the bushes to collect the cubs. What they had not expected to see was a large, blue striped tiger with long fangs, standing over the little ones with an angry expression on its face.

The two 'keepers', as she had dubbed the larger creatures, shrieked louder than the cubs before them and called for help. Snatching up the closer of the three cubs, the keepers found themselves at a loss as to how they would retrieve the third cub. In her haste to free herself from their tiny searching paws, the smallest of the cubs had fallen on the far side of her body and was now trapped between her and the trees.

The she-demon turned to the female keeper, scent told her one of them was indeed female, and chuffed a series of growls and snorts to inform them she had no interest in the cub. Her only response was an even louder scream than before and a smack across the head with a satchel that the female clung to. She snarled at the reaction and took a half hearted swipe at the female for daring to attack her. The she-demon took a few steps away from the cub and growled, waiting to see if the female would collect the cub and leave her be. When the female made no move to reach for the cub, she decided that she would take matters into her own hands.

She gripped the cub's clothing loosely in her teeth and, with one final glance at the keepers gathered before her, bounded off into the trees. A hollow, wailing cry followed after her, almost as if announcing the arrival of a monster.

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Koenma looked over the file before him for what seemed like the hundredth time as he waited for his guests to arrive. Why did a demon sighting have to happen now, when his team had just returned from the Dark Tournament only a few days prior and were still recovering their strength? He couldn't help but wish that this case were less time sensitive, perhaps even a false alarm, but of course that wasn't how things worked in the Spirit World. He would have to do something about the demon and before anyone else went missing or worse, his father found out.

He was becoming impatient with his team, despite half of said team being next to useless at the moment, when his guests finally arrived. His office door slowly opened, allowing the two demons of his team, Kurama and Hiei to enter. He watched them approach his desk, already aware that neither one of them was happy with being called in so soon after the Dark Tournament.

Kurama was handed the file and slowly looked over the information that had been gathered, which was very little. Koenma proceeded to tell the two demons about the mission. "As you may have already noticed, or not, in Hiei's case," which earned him a heated glare from the smaller demon. "There have been sightings of a tiger near a playground. These sightings all agree on one thing though, the tiger in question is not normal. It has blue stripes and has the appearance of a wolf but for the stripes and strange tail. The first sighting led to the abduction of a child." Kurama's eyes narrowed slightly at this news but he remained silent for the moment.

Koenma nodded at the taller demons reaction and sighed, "You understand the severity of the situation then. What is unclear at this time is the fate of this missing child; it has not been killed nor has it been seen since. You are to rescue the child and take the demon into custody, if you can." Hiei scoffed at this mission and glared at the toddler prince of Spirit World once more. "So a child is missing. Why should I be involved in such a simple matter when you have two idiots that are more than capable of doing this mission?" Kurama eyed his partner before replying, "Hiei, if it helps in getting our sentences reduced, then why should we not assist in finding this child? Besides, you already know that Yusuke and Kuwabara are unable to take on missions for the time being."

The smaller demon remained silent and simply turned to leave. Kurama nodded to Koenma and followed after his friend, all the while going over the information they had been given on this new demon and wondering what could have provoked its sudden appearance.

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(A/N) This marks the end of the first chapter. Please let me know what you thought of the chapter by clicking the box below.

The next chapter will be dedicated to a fellow writer by the name of Hiroakki. Her story, We were both Destined, gave me the inspiration I needed to return to this story and gave me the courage to share it with all of you.


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N) This chapter is dedicated to Hiroakki. She is the one who gave me the courage I needed to finally share my story with everyone and allowed me to bring this next chapter into being.

Also, I am still learning how to use the chapter editing function. Please be patient while I attempt to make heads or tails of this system.

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The she-demon licked the berry juice from the small cub's face. He had enjoyed smashing the berries she found for him a bit too much. Then again, didn't cubs enjoy smashing things and playing with the ruined bits? She couldn't remember her days as a cub very well; It had been a few centuries since she was considered a cub, by anyone's standard.

His belly full, for the moment, the cub yawned and quickly fell asleep in the grass. This left the she-demon with a problem; She needed to find shelter for the cub so that she could hunt for more food without worrying about his safety. She scanned the trees nearby and shook her head. The cub could fall from the branches too easily and hurt himself. She tested the ground with her paws and decided that a den would take too long, not that she had the energy to dig one anyway.

About to give up on finding shelter for her charge, a small bush, no bigger then the cub next to her, caught the she-demon's eye. If she could accelerate the growth of the plant, perhaps it would be enough to hide the cub inside. Padding over to the young bush, she nosed it gently and directed her energy towards it.

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In her weakened state, it had taken several hours before the she-demon was satisfied with the size of her newly grown den. It was easily big enough for not only the cub, but herself as well. She was able to stretch out fully and still have room to move around.

The cub was now resting in a bed of leaves and petals, having been moved shortly after the den was finished. She looked at him fondly for several minutes before going in search of more food for them both.

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Kurama and Hiei had gone out into the city shortly after leaving Koenma's office. Neither one was happy about this latest mission, both for different reasons. Hiei felt it was a waste of his time and energy as well as an insult to his abilities. Kurama was concerned about the demon sighting but even more so about the child it had taken. They knew next to nothing about this demon, and that would make this mission rather tricky.

A surge of energy near where the child disappeared caught their attention and so they followed it to the wooded park. To Hiei's mind, it was foolish of a demon to stay near the scene of their crime and risk being caught that much sooner. Kurama, however, saw a different meaning behind these actions. He felt no malice or aggression in the flow of energy. (This is where the case became more interesting to him if he was honest with himself.) The energy, it almost felt like a mother protecting her child.

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The she-demon knew she had company almost immediately. The demon and halfblood had made no attempt to hide their presence as they neared what she had claimed as her territory. She continued to gather food into a bag made of vines, leaves, and bark. Already she had gathered half a dozen apples and oranges, several dozen berries of various kinds, as well as a few herbs that she recognized from her days browsing the market stalls for plants from the Human World.

Now finished with gathering food for her cub, she looked over towards where she knew the demons were waiting just outside her trees and growled defensively. Having given her warning, she trotted off to the den and her cub.

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Having witnessed a scene that neither demon had seen before in what was supposed to be a child stealing monster left the two rather confused. Hiei's eyes narrowed dangerously, his voice nearly a growl at the response to their presence, or lack thereof. "The demon is a fool to let us so near without even attempting to guard itself. It is begging to be killed by my blade." The redhead looked at his friend and sighed patiently. "It would appear that the demon is guarding something, perhaps the child. Food gathering would indicate that it has already found shelter and established a territory. We need to proceed with caution, Hiei. If the child is indeed still alive, then we need to find it. Rushing in and attacking may very well get the child killed."

Hiei glared at his comrade for a moment before searching the wooded area with his jagan eye. He quickly found the child in a large bush that was obviously not natural. He was just turning to tell Kurama of his discovery when he noticed a few humans entering the trees opposite them. They wore the uniforms of a group of humans that called themselves Police and another called Animal Control. 'What could those fools hope to accomplish against a tiger demon? They will only get themselves killed.'

Kurama noticed his friend's sudden change in attitude and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Hiei noticed this and smirked faintly before replying, "It seems we are not the only ones here to rescue the child. A group of humans just crossed into its territory on the other side." He waited a few moments before adding another comment. "As if guns will do the fools any good against an angry demon." Kurama looked back to the trees, his brow knitted together in worry for the child and humans going to his rescue. "We may need to intervene if the demon attacks them." He sighed softly and glanced at Hiei from the corner of his eye. 'Hopefully it won't come to that.'

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(A/N) Here ends the second chapter of Stranger in a Strange Land.

The police and animal control have just entered the she-demon's territory. What do you think will happen to them? To the child? Will Hiei and Kurama have to stop the demon from killing the humans or will the humans capture her instead?

Tell me what you think will happen by reviewing below. Until next time.


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